Alert

Due to a lapse in appropriations, the NRC has ceased normal operations. However, excepted and exempted activities necessary to maintain critical health and safety functions—as well as essential progress on designated critical activities, including those specified in Executive Order 14300—will continue, consistent with the OMB-Approved NRC Lapse Plan.

Nuclear power plant

A thermal power plant, in which the energy (heat) released by the fissioning of nuclear fuel is used to boil water to produce steam. The steam spins the propeller-like blades of a turbine that turns the shaft of a generator to produce electricity. Of the various nuclear power plant designs, pressurized- water reactors and boiling-water reactors are in commercial operation in the United States. These facilities generate about 20 percent of U.S. electrical power.

Page Last Reviewed/Updated Wednesday, February 15, 2023